Epiphany
by ladyelainemalfoy
Summary: They said that your life flashes before your eyes during the moments before your end. They said death is a peaceful event. But these were all hear says. None of them were true during the last moments of Charity Burbage.


They said that your life flashes before your eyes during the moments before your end. They said death is a peaceful event. But these were all hear says. None of them were true during the last moments of Charity Burbage.

_Pain_. It was all she could feel, from the tips of her hair, to the roots, to the skin, to the muscles, to the nerves, to the bones, and to the blood. Everything was in pain. She was barely aware of her surroundings. In her mind, she wanted to just stop the pain. Someone shrieked and another flash of pain entered her system. _Please, stop. Please_. She mentally pleaded and even wanted to tell her captors that, but she never did. She couldn't use her voice because it was too painful. Blood-curling screams filled the room, and she belatedly realized that it was she who was screaming.

The pain stopped for a minute once more. Then it was two, three, until numbness overtook her. She panted as if she had run five miles without slowing down. Everywhere hurt. She twitched involuntarily. _A side-effect_. Even the side-effect hurt. She could hear murmurs, but her ears weren't sharp anymore, unlike when she was still a teacher. She shut her eyes and curled into fetal position. _Please, just leave me alone_, she prayed.

But no amount of deities could help her. Soon, footsteps echoed in her cell. Her heart quickened after a moment's relaxation. _Not again, please not again_. Tears rolled down her cheeks. It stung; she had newly acquired open wounds on her cheeks, but the tears felt good in some way. It cleansed her even a bit. She heard the malice in the voice, even if she couldn't understand what they were saying. It was just too painful to think.

Suddenly, she was no longer in the ground. For the first time in a very long time, she felt the soft hum of a regular charm, not a jinx, a hex, or a curse. It was refreshing, liberating even, and for a moment, the witch felt relief. However, a part of her mind told her that the worst was yet to come. As if the pain wasn't enough, these cold-hearted beasts were fond of torture and death.

She was levitated, and she kept her eyes shut when she exited her cell. The dim light of whatever place she was in was enough to blind her for a moment after being locked in the dungeons for so long. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen the sun. It could have been hours, days, weeks, or by Merlin, months. She had lost track of time long ago when the pain started creeping to the deepest part of her body.

The murmurs grew louder, but they were still murmurs in the witch's ears. Her heart thumped louder than any of their voices. She opened her eyes partially, only to see nothing but a set of intricately carved doors. They had stopped, but she was still hovering in the air. The murmurs sounded as if they were in the room. Maybe they were in the room, whatever beasts they were. Perhaps she was levitated so she couldn't see the people in the room. It's mercy on the monster's part in Charity's mind. _Or perhaps another torture, just something deeper. _

The chairs scraped, and silence overtook the place for a moment. They were waiting for something, or someone. In the distant amongst the silence, a sharp constant hissing rang in the witch's ears. She wasn't aware of it before, but with only her heart thumping loudly and silence filling the room, the hiss was more prominent. She never liked snakes.

Footsteps echoed through the almost empty place. She figured she was in a castle, or a manor of sorts from the design she had gathered through her heavily lidded eyes. She couldn't open her eyes fully; it hurt. Tears continued to roll down her cheeks as she hovered, but it never reached the ground- they dried off from the coldness emitted by everyone despite the fire in the hearth.

The footsteps grew louder, and soon it stopped. The monster spoke, murmured too smoothly. She couldn't see the newcomer, but nor could she hear their name. Everything was tuned out. Murmurs, only murmurs.

The murmuring grew, but it was only the monster's voice that dominated them all. She didn't know how long they lasted until there was a thud. Something hard hit what she assumed was a wooden table. It made her jumpy, but only her heart could jump; her other muscles were too tired and restricted by the levitation.

She felt a pull. She was moving away from the door and her silver-handed captor. She was moving towards the center of attention. Her heart thumped louder. The sound was the loudest. Even the monster's voice was not registering in her mind. She tried to open her eyes fully now. She had to see them, if only to see anyone she could ask for help. They were people, and in her heart she knew they would have mercy.

Her eyes settled on a grey eyed neophyte, but she was quickly moved away from him. She was moved towards the head of the table, closer to another familiar set of eyes. Greasy black hair and sneer. It was her fellow teacher. Her eyes filled with a small hope, and she cried what were to be her last words. "_Severus...please...please_," she heard her voice in a throaty and hoarse manner. Those simple words hurt like hell as air scraped in her throat. She stared for long, but he never moved. Hope died before she even took her last breath.

They said death was peaceful, like they said that life flashes before your eyes before you die. _They lied_. No one's death during the war was peaceful. And Charity's life never flashed before her eyes during her last moments. There were only two things that flashed. The blinding green light that had took her breath away from her forever, and the blank black orbs of Severus Snape that had took the hope in her before her body died.

During her last moments, Charity Burbage's eyes had opened for a split second in the true faces of deceit. In those milliseconds that the light traveled from the tip of the monster's wand, realization hit her hard; not everyone had the hidden warmth in their heart because the monsters in that room killed with cold blood and blank eyes. Charity Burbage had not had the time to argue with it, for before a second had passed, her body hit the wooden dining table of the Malfoys. _Lifeless._

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**_Read and review~ Enjoy!_**

**_-ladyelainemalfoy_**


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